Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[Fansince1992]

Can People who say "It's Stale" or "i'm switching channels to watch the History Channel" call themselves Wrestling Fans?

Do you people follow other sports, and decide because your favourite Football Team is losing all the time, and becoming stale you decide not to watch them?

Wouldn't a FAN stick with what they support through the thick and thins highs and lows?

 

[The Eighties]

The opening promo from Show was decent but essentially his Smackdown promo with visual aids. The closing segment of him demolishing 3 lighthearted mid-card faces was fine in establishing his monster giant status, the problem is for me that I just don't care about a Cena vs Show feud, certainly not as the main program of Raw.

Santino vs Del Rio didn't do anything for anyone, Santino is the US champion but was simply squashed, and beating him does nothing to make Del Rio look a bigger threat to Sheamus. If WWE insist on keeping the US title on Santino then at least give him an angle with someone where he can be of use.

Air Truth vs Swaggler was a sold tag title rematch from OTL and while the outcome never felt in doubt, the post match "I'm better than this!" outburst from Ziggler hopefully means his singles push is going to restart.

Ace makes his way to the ring with the stunning Eve and Otunga, this set off the best period of the show. He first unveils himself as the cover of WWE 13, only for Punk to come out, make fun of him and his two sidekicks and reveal that he is the cover of the video game, something that got a huge pop from the crowd.

This was followed by the Punk vs Bryan rematch that was again excellent, these two just work together so well and they never repeat the same match. AJ makes her way to ringside during the match wearing a CM Punk shirt, at one point Bryan goes to remove the turnbuckle and she jumps up to tell the ref meaning Bryan succeeds and then wins the match after Punk goes head first into it and Bryan pins him.

Post match Kane comes out and attacks Bryan with the chair and chokeslams him, he then turns his attention to Punk but AJ slides Punk a chair and he fends off Kane, giving him 4 or 5 stiff shots to clear him out of the ring. The segment ends with Punk giving AJ a confused look while she stares at him doe eyed.

Christian is out next in a non title match against Miz with Cody on commentary basically calling Christian a has-been. The match is pretty good with plenty of back and forth action that ends when Christian hits the killswitch and frog splash combo.

When we come back from break The Miz is still in the ring with a mic, he wants the result of the match stricken from the record and moans that it wasn't even a title match, he then wants to know why he hasn't been rewarded for getting the pin for Team Johnny at Mania and says he wont leave until he gets an answer.....Orton comes out and RKO's him. The camera then cuts to Vickie and Dolph watching on a monitor and Dolph telling Vickie that's where he needs to be, pointing at Orton, Vickie tells him she will see what she can do.

That was where the good portion of Raw ended, we got a short and physical Sheamus vs Otunga match that did nothing for either guy and then it was on to the Show vs Brodus, Kofi, Truth toss around I mentioned at the start.

Overall I enjoyed the middle of Raw and in truth I can't complain about the execution of the bulk of the rest, it simply comes down to me not being remotely interested in the main focus of Raw being built around Big Show vs Cena.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw Supershow - May 28, 2012

Opening Segment - Good promo from Show in my opinion. He played well off the crowd and his delivery was solid. Show was kind of laid back and in a serious mode, even while mocking the fans, and it's a nice change because his babyface character was getting kind of stale. I really liked how Show incorporated some of the events on Raw for the past few weeks into his reasoning for "selling out". The clip of Brodus Clay dancing with the kids and all that just minutes after he "begged" for his job was a great touch, as was his comments about Cena after showing the clip of him mocking Big Johnny. Show touched on how Cena didn't do anything to even try to help him, all but pointing out that Cena was someone who could have made a difference. It gives the feud a logical reason for taking place, though it's a good example of why suspension of disbelief is important in wrestling. After all, Show made a lot of valid points. Thumbs Up

1. Santino Marella vs. Alberto Del Rio - Waste of time that didn't accomplish much of anything. I know a lot of people like Santino, but I'm tired of his schtick. We see too much of him, which might not be such a bad thing all in all if he wasn't the United States Champion. He's not doing the title any favors whatsoever, especially with Del Rio beating him in about 2 minutes. N/A

Show Backstage - They showed a couple of instances backstage in which Show bullies some of the wrestlers. First, they show Alex Riley backstage talking to Eve when Show comes up behind him. Riley begs off of Show, knowing that Show is able to pick his opponent for tonight. Show tells Riley to relax as he's not picking him but askes him to send a message to the locker room, before proceeding to ram him into the wall. Later in the night, Show is pushing Santino around before Brodus Clay calls out to him. Brodus gets in his face and says that if Show has something to say about him, referring to the video clip shown earlier during Show's promo, then to say it to his face. It was nice seeing Brodus in a more serious light, although I've known for a long time that he could pull that off. Show acceps Brodus' challenge and they'll have a match later on. Both the segments were short and effective in establishing Show's heel persona. Thumbs Up

2. Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger for the WWE Tag Team Championship - The match was ok, nothing particularly great, but a decent effort by both teams. The match was mostly a standard formula tag match, but there was a good deal of energy on display from both teams. Kofi & Truth work well together and hit a couple of nice looking tag moves, mostly on Dolph Ziggler who sold them like a champ. The heels eventually get control and work over Kofi for a while before he's able to make the hot tag. Truth comes in to a big pop and does his thing while Kofi takes out Ziggler. Truth winds up hitting his finisher on Swagger just past the 7 minute mark for the win. Afterward, Dolph voices his frustration at Vickie & Swagger and says that he's done with this and that he's "better than this", which he is. Later on in the night, after Randy Orton RKOs Miz, Ziggler is watching backstage with Vickie and tells her that if she wants to help then to get him out of that tag team. I think we just saw the beginnings of Ziggler about ot break away from Vickie and go out on his own, which excites me because it's well past time. *3/4

Big Johnny & CM Punk - Another good promo segement featuring good interaction between Punk & Big Johnny. JL comes out on his scooter with Eve & Otunga in tow. He gets in the ring and hypes himself before revealing a cover of the WWE '13 video game, a cover with him on it. Punk's music hits and he comes out to a huge pop. He climbs into the ring & insults Johnny for a few moments before unveiling the actual cover for the video game, which has Punk on it with his arms crossed, and it gets a good reception. Punk insults JL some more and, looking disdainfully at Punk, JL simply wishes Punk good luck in his match before he & his flunkies leave. Again, short, simple & effective that not only hyped the video game but kept tensions up between Punk & the "boss". Thumbs Up

3. CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan - Another great effort from both men as they delivered a strong tv match. It wasn't as good as their other matches, but it was still a damn good back & forth match between two men that know what they're doing. Both got a good response from the crowd and they worked hard. I kept expecting Kane to run out and interfere, but it didn't and I'm so glad that it didn't as I was looking forward to the match when it was announced. AJ came down to ringside and I continue to be intrigued with what they're doing with her. She was wearing a CM Punk shirt and Punk was both a little annoyed and concerned about her presence out there. At one point in the match Bryan removes the covering from one of the turnbuckle pads. AJ jumps up on the apron, trying to warm the ref as to what Bryan is doing. The ref's attention is on AJ as he tries to get her down. Punk runs towards Bryan, going for maybe another running knee or, before Bryan picks him up and Hot Shots him on the steel bolt. Punk is out and Bryan picks up the win at the 14.5 minute mark. Bryan starts to celebrate before Kane shows up and beats him down with a chair before chokeslamming him on it. He starts to go after Punk, who's recovered by now, and Punk beats him to the punch and whacks him with the chair. Fun match and a good win for Bryan to set up a future title match. ***1/4

4. Christian vs. The Miz - Good solid match in my eyes. The worked at a good pace and this is another match that's sort of building Christian back up and helping him to work out his ring rust. Cody Rhodes was doing commentary and I like that he's back to putting over the importance of the title. He did well at putting Christian over as a worthy opponent, but what I liked most is that Rhodes didn't take everyone's attention away from the match. The Miz looked better than he has in a few months and gave Christian a pretty good match. Christian eventually winds up hitting the Killswitch before hitting the Frog Splash off the top for the win about the 6 minute mark. **1/4

Memorial Day Video - WWE really excells in their video packages and this one was no different. Personally, I think it would've been better with Cena narrating it but, at the same time, Cena is extremely patriotic and it makes sense to have him talking about the sacrifices soldiers have made. Thumbs Up

5. Sheamus vs. David Otunga - Nothing special, but ok while it lasted. Otunga got in some nice offense and he also landed some hard, stiff looking shots to Sheamus more than once. Otunga is someone that does have some legit ability inside the ring, I just wish they'd use him as something other than a punching bag. Sheamus eventually rallies and puts Otunga in White Noise before hitting a Brogue Kick for the win at the 3.5 minute mark. *1/2

Big Show & Brodus Clay - Their match didn't get started but it was a good beatdown from Show that continued to establish him as a destructive presence. Show talked a little smack to Brodus up the ramp first before running towards him and hitting him with a spear outside. Brodus tried to mount some offense, but Show quickly cut him off and rammed him into the barricade and the steel post a few times. Kofi & R-Truth come out but Show catches Kofi in mid-air and tosses him against Truth. Show then beats on Clay with part of the announce table, though I think it would've simply looked better with a chair. Show then turned his attention back to Truth and tossed him around some more before grabbing Kofi and roughly tossing him through the barrier. Show walks out slowly, looking around the crowd as they pour some heat on him. Some might not like seeing Kofi & Truth shoved around like that, it's understandable. At the same time, to me, it helped get Show's dominant heel presence ofer more. Kofi & Truth are both pretty popular and they are the tag team champs after all, so it was better than just using a couple of nameless faces to beat up on. Thumbs Up

Final Thoughts - Good show last night, much better overall and with a lot more energy and smoother flow than last week. Show did a good job last night in establishing his persona & presence. His promo delivery was good and while some probably aren't into it, the guy makes a convincing heel. Big Johnny wasn't all over the show this week as he has been for the past several, which is a good thing as it was getting to be too much. I also like that Cena wasn't on the show last night, which is a good way of keeping his appearances fresh while putting more attention on other guys that need it. Wrestling action on the show was overall pretty decent. Bryan & Punk put on another great effort and I'm intrigued on seeing where they're going with AJ. I find myself wondering if WWE is going to have this all turn out to be an elaborate plan to get AJ in close with Punk and ultimately cause him to lose the title to Bryan a little later down the line. The tag title match was ok, nothing special, same with Sheamus vs. Otunga. I thought Christian vs. Miz was a good match that had a nice pace. Punk vs. Bryan, however, is what ultimately made the wrestling action worth watching overall last night. The final segment of Show beating down Clay was effective. WWE doesn't want Clay to lose just yet and Show certainly can't afford a loss right now going into his program with Cena, so having Show beat Clay down is a good way of building heat for Show. All in all, a good solid show last night.

Grade: B

 

[HoHo]

Show opening promo was better than I expected, promo did seem to drag, the fans didn't really care Show was in the Ring.I like the part Show showing the fans Brodus Clay having a party after he was fired, hopefully this Show as a heel works out till the match comes,lol.Del Rio squashing Santino funny as hell, here's hoping Ricardo gets him some later.I was very upset Ziggler and Swagger didn't win the belts, how does this help either team.Beating the same team for the title, doesn't make a great team, Swagger and Ziggler bust their asses every week, and lose in the same situation ugh.I don't see Ziggler really getting over a face, but I would rather see him have a great feud with Orton at No Way Out, but we know who will win that match.Punk/Ace segment was gold, like that cover would ever happen.Let me vent a little, why in the fuck are Otunga and Eve even signed to the WWE.Wearing glasses, and a nice ass gets you a contract with WWE.If Eve wants to be taken seriously, WWE should have her wrestle again.As for Otunga, hey big man either go 100 percent in your career in WWE, or go home to the wifey, I wonder what those two make, because they are thiefs, not doing much for air-time.

As for the Punk/Bryan match awesome, it seems it might be a triple threat huh Kane vs Punk vs Bryan and AJ helps Punk lose the title, the pyscho/groupie storyline.Let's talk about AJ, ooohhhh have mercy did she look great last night!Ok Big Show killing Brodus, great to see his ass get kicked, he needs it, too much stardom, too fast for him.Didn't know why Kofi/Truth came mind your business,but for weeks now WWE has ended Raw with weird segments like this, this is Pro Wrestling, end it with a match.Overal 7 out of 10.

 

[LittleJimmy]

This past Monday's RAW has continued a trend of boring, lackluster shows. The only bright spot was Punk/Byran again but I think it is becoming a little water-down. Yes they put on great clinics but to keep putting this match on free TV then try and sell us on a PPV seems illogical. Everything else was horrible, too much Big Show. His openning promo was way too long and completely boring. For some to say it was a good promo tells me they have no idea what a good promo is. The ending was also way too long with Big Show doing a lot of standing around. This Cena/Show feud is not interesting at all. It has been done before and Big Show is a good 6-7 yrs past his prime. Another downer is the fact that there was no progression in the Lesner/Heymen/HHH situation. The crowd was dead again but who can really blame them recently, the show hasnt had anything to cheer about.

Also, what is it with those who think the WWE can do no wrong. To give RAW a B grade is beyond adsurd. Raw hasnt put on a "B" show since Lesner "quit". If I were to grade this RAW I would give it a C-, barely worth 2 hours of my time. If the WWE wants to go 3 hrs they better start making things interesting of it will be a disaster like the 3 hr WCW Nitro.

 

[The ShIT Factor]

I agree with Little Jimmy, there is way too much big show on RAW. He is years past his prime and we are past the era of bigger is better. His promos are to long and restate stuff over and over and to me he is a sub-par worker now. WWE's product isn't as explosive and entertaining as it used to be. They work around the same bullshit again and again and they wonder why the crowd is unresponsive. Matches are either too short and one-sided, with the exception of Punk v. Bryan, or full of comedy shit and not wrestling. Most of the guys seem less like wrestlers and more like jakked up entertainers. Also, the feuds are as stale as ever and are revolving around Big Fuckin' Johnny or " You want/stole my damn belt!" it is repetitive and old. There needs to be new, innovative feuds and interesting matches. Overall i'd give the show a 5 out of 10. For good, fun matches I'll be watching new stars shine of superstars and NXT. Right now there isn't a good wrestling show.

 

[Indeed]

The Sheamus and Ziggler match was fantastic and the crowd was really into it. They popped hard for Sheamus at the end. So far it's been a great Smackdown, although I wish they'd put Ryback in a feud already.

 

[DetectiveZelix]

SD wasnt horrible. I only enjoyed when Ziggler shut Vickie up and got serious. Also his close victory. I also enjoyed Kanes awesome double chokeslam. It feels good to FINALLY see Kane end Smackdown dominantly

 

[The Eighties]

I liked Del Rio on this weeks SD, I felt he did a good job with the simple stuff and seemed less like a caricature than usual. I also think WWE doesn't get that Hooligan is not the same as redneck and has a negative connotation outside the US.

Match-wise it was a good show, Sheamus vs Dolph and Punk vs Kane were both good, Sandow used his time well, Ryback's squash was fun and the little backstage segment with Bryan and AJ was good, as was punk's short backstage promo.

Stand out part of the show was certainly what looks like the first move in the emancipation of Dolph.

Only gripe was the waste of Prime Time Players for more Show crap, and Kidd and Cody only getting about 3 minutes. Also Ace's promo at the end seemed weirdly edited.

 

[RattleRockerJet97]

Tonight was pretty damn good. I usually never say much on the forum but I felt like praising tonight's show. I felt like everyone was definetly on their A-game.

Ziggler vs Sheamus was good and the aftermath of it established the Sheamus-Del Rio fued and got some good heat for Del Rio.

Reks and Hawkins on RAW!? That was cool to see and decent tag team match against Kofi and Truth. Of course they had no chance, but its still nice to see.

No Divas again......

Now the Punk-Bryan-Kane has really got me excited. Punk and Kane worked extremely well together tonight and both men had a great, very well-paced match that was pretty damn good. I havent followed Kane really at all and was pretty damn surprised to see how athletic and how good of a worker he really is. Cm Punk is just so damn good at what he does and the way they balanced the match out to where Kane didnt come off as a completely Dominate force and a more balanced villan, really payed off. Bryan has been great and tonight while limited was no different. The ending was confusing and left me wanting more, which is how it should be. I have no problem with how Punk lost, it just established Kane as a real threat and not to be taken lightly by either Punk or Bryan. I didnt like it at first but now I welcome Kane into this match and have no problems what so ever.

Lastly, AJ firmly established herself as the crazy chick looking for attention, but i felt like they kinda rushed it, I dont know that last bit with Josh Matthews just didnt go over well with me. Just made it seem like they are gonna try and distance her away from the match. But she did her part and did it really well tonight and im looking forward to this fued more than any other. Great stuff, really hope it ends the show at "No Way Out" I think this fued and these guys deserve it.

Only thing I didnt like was the ending. Dont really want to get into it but I hated everything about it. Oh well.

 

[alberts35]

The AJ thing rocked....her character catapulted a lot with the whole Kane thing, and the interview after. They are leading up perfectly to the No Way Out poster with her and Bryan on the train tracks.

I was very surprised Cole didn't get the pin after the fat idiot interfered, it was true WWE way, but they actually gave the fans what they wanted. Not much to bitch about in this episode except the entirely played-out, old hat Ryback beating two toothpicks and making it like its a big deal.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw Supershow - June 4, 2012

Opening Segment - I thought last night's opening was very solid all in all. I honestly don't know sometimes if people think that Cole just sucks or they're really just pissed because he's in Jim Ross' spot, but I think Cole is great to listen to when he's in heel mode. I thought Cole did a great job of putting over Big Show while slamming Cena, the fact that Cole obviously played to internet fans with some of his insults to Cena gave it a little extra kick. Cole didn't try to lay it on too thick, which I admit is something he's done in the past, but he was toned down just enough here in my view. Cena's response was solid, though part of me still agrees with Big Show's pespective. After all, in real life, you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes to get by in the world. Initially, I wasn't crazy about the idea of Cena and Cole having a match. We've seen Cole get beaten up a lot and I was disappointed with this in the beginning. As the night went on, however, with Cole consistently pleading to be let out of this match, I got intrigued at the notion that there was going to be something more to this. Thumbs Up

1. Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler - This was a rematch betwen the two from SmackDown! this past Friday. While not as good as that match, it was still a good strong match from both guys. I find myself wondering why WWE doesn't pull the trigger on Dolph Ziggler as he demonstrates excellence inside the ring time and time again. It was a strong back and forth match with Ziggler giving as good as he got. There were a couple of good near falls from Ziggler and, as always, he sold Sheamus' offense like a champ. The ending kind of disappointed me because I was hoping for another botched attempt at interference from Swagger, or at least Vickie this time. Ziggler blaming Swagger's botched interference for him losing this past Friday was the reason for this match, so having something similar happen here would've only made Ziggler look even stronger and further the idea that he's ready to split from Vickie. Sheamus winds up hitting White Noise before landing the Brogue Kick for the clean win at the 10 minute mark. ***

Big Johnny Backstage - Normally I wouldn't mention this segment as it was just a very brief piece backstage. However, Otunga informs Big Johnny that Vince McMahon will be returning next week on Raw, which would soon be announced as a three hour show, and would be performing a "job evaluation" on Big Johnny. I'm sure some will complain about this since Triple H is supposed to be the one that's overseeing Big Johnny's position as GM of Raw & SD!. A simple explanation is that Vince is taking over those duties, temporarily, while Triple H is rehabing his "broken arm". Besides, Vince is still CEO of WWE people. That pretty much gives him jurisdiction over any damn thing he wants. Not really anything here to rate as positive or negative, but it's noteworthy as it'll be the first time we've seen Vince on WWE television this year I think. N/A

2. Sin Cara vs. Hunico - Pretty decent match for what it was, which was an outing to reintroduce Sin Cara to the Raw audience. To me, it seems that Sin Cara has been much smoother these past couple of times than he was when was last saw him. I know this was only the second match he's had on WWE television, the first being against Heath Slater this past Friday on SD!, but he seems much crisper and more comfortable in there now. No botches or anything. He looked good here and the live crowd gave his unconventional offense a good solid response and popped as they were supposed to. I wish they'd lose the friggin' mood lighting, however. As I was watching it, however, I was wondering if maybe that light is something that helps Sin Cara see easier through his mask? Sin Cara gets the win about the 3 minute mark after hitting the hurricanrana/face plant type move. *3/4

Raw's Most Memorable Moments Videos - Last night, WWE showed a couple of video packages, the first being John Cena's personal favorite moment & the second being Triple H's. Cena's was the night he was first drafted to Raw during his first run as WWE Champion. Triple H's, I personally remember like it was yesterday, was the one where he came back at a sold out MSG back in 2002 after being out 9 months due to a tearing his quad. Both vids were great and the added commentary of both guys added an element of real personal experience for them. Thumbs Up

3. Ryback vs. Arthur Rosenberg & Stan Stansky - This was Ryback's first squash match on Raw. Like everyone else, I think it's time to start moving Ryback onto actual feuds & opponents. However, this was his first outing in front of a live Raw crowd and it was good to see that he got a strong response. Even though Ryback weighs almost as much as his opponents put together, it's still impressive watching two grown men get tossed around like ragdolls, even in this day and age. Fans were impressed with Ryback's strength and his intensity, which I have to been as well. Ryback finished them off with the double Muscle Buster/Fall Away Slam thing he does. You could hear a few faint Goldberg chants, but they were mostly drowned out by the crowd. N/A

4. CM Punk vs. Kane - Prior to this match, Daniel Bryan comes out and cuts a brief promo. Bryan continues to get a great response from the crowd and does his "Yes!" thing before the match starts. As for the match itself, more great stuff. I thought this match was better than the one they had on SD!. Kane really excels when they put him in matches against guys like Punk or Bryan, especially when they keep Kane looking strong in what's a strong back & forth match. The fact that they didn't book this match with Kane just tossing Punk around with Punk being unable to do much against him in terms of putting him down was great, making it look like an even, hard fought match works when you consider that's how Kane has been booked since his return. The match also had a couple of great, very believable near falls, such as when Punk landed the neckbreaker and the Macho Man elbow later in the match. Eventually, Bryan does interfere and lands a couple of kicks to Punk on the outside before Punk manages to crawl back inside. AJ comes running down in a Punk t-shirt and pair of Daisy Dukes, woo-hoo, and jumps up on the apron. While this is going on, Kane goes for a chokeslam but eats a roundhouse kick before Punk dives onto the outside onto Daniel Bryan. He beats on Bryan for a bit before climbing back into the ring. Kane catches him by surprise and delivers a chokeslam for the win about the 14 minute mark. AJ's reaction to Kane post match was very intriguing. She is so good in the role she's in right now that it's not even funny. It was a great tease that makes you wonder if AJ has something going on with Kane, might be interested in getting with Kane, did it in the hopes of "saving" herself from Kane or if she's just a man hungry psycho. Bryan's facial expression sold his perplexion as well. The match also served as great build for the triple threat match at No Way Out and now both Punk's opponents have gained solid wins over him in back to back weeks. ***1/2

AJ Backstage - As AJ was walking backstage, Josh Matthews came up and asked her what was going on. She went into seductive mode for a few minutes, gently tugging on Josh's tie while smiling. She quickly changed and said, "Do you not like aggressive women? I do. You know what, you might just be my type." Flustered, Matthews walks off while AJ's great facial expressions change. I dig what they're doing with her partly because I'm not sure where they're going. AJ seems to have a whole Cybill thing going on, Cybill is the name of a woman that was very famous for having legit multiple personalities just in case you don't know what I mean. She seemlessly goes from a sweet, dainty little girl to a seductress to an aggressive tigress. She seems to be the kind of girl that you'd love to have ride you like a wild mountain goat, but you'd be scared half to death at the same time. Thumbs Up

Big Show Video - This was another sit down interview/video montage set up like what WWE did with Brock Lesnar a while back. Show's delivery was great here and they showed some of Show's most embarassing moments in WWE history, some of the crap he's done, and used it to further drive home that Show has "changed" and that he's no longer worried about holding back. Show wasn't at Raw last night and I like that they're keeping him & Cena apart, they're keeping things fresh between them and aren't wearing things out by having them have lots of confrontations. Thumbs Up

5. Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks - Pretty good match, much better than I thought it'd be. It wasn't a standard formula like we saw, though Kofi did a piss poor job of selling his "injuries" from the hands of Big Show last week. At the same time, the match had a lot of energy and Hawkins & Reks looked pretty decent. The last couple of minutes were a lot of fun with Kofi's high energy offense and that it looked as though the heels were going to get the win. The match went to about the 4.5 minute mark and ended with Kofi managing to hit TIP on his second attempt and pins Hawkins. **1/4

6. John Cena vs. Tensai - Before the Cena vs. Cole match, Big Johnny comes out on his scooter and tells Cena that his match with Cole will be no DQ, if he can beat "this man", namely Tensai. Cena's match with Tensai was pretty good, nothing overly spectacular and not as good as the match they had several weeks ago, but it was still pretty solid. Cena eventually mounts a comeback and hits the AA at the 9.5 minute mark for the clean win, which means he gets Cole. It looks like Tensai's push is probably officially over with his first loss, even though it was to Cena. **1/4

7. John Cena vs. Michael Cole - I enjoyed this, I really did. Not so much for seeing Cole get beaten up, which was ok, but I just kept wondering if we were going see Show come out and cause Cena to lose to Cole. I would've hated it as we'd have never heard the end of it from Cole, but the tease was great. The live crowd ate it all up with Cena smacking Cole around and pouring some of Jim Ross' BBQ sauce on him. Cena put Cole in a reverse chin-lock and made him appologize to Lawler for harping on his "WM victory", he made him appologize to Jim Ross and went so far as to call JR his "mentor & idol" before saying his BBQ sauce was "slobberknocker good". I have to admit that I was laughing at this point. Soon, Tensai comes into the ring and nails Cena with the chokebomb while Cole is over in the corner drenched in BBQ sauce. Cole crawled on top of Cena and got a close 2 count before Cena kicked out. There was a mixture of elation & relief, both from me and the live crowd, when Cena kicked out. Cole tried to hit Cena with the fire extinguisher next but Cena scoops him up and hit the AA for the win at the 5.5 minute mark. The show goes off with Cena celebrating and using the fire extinguisher again on Cole. I have to rate the match because it was honestly fun and I was kept in suspense in wondering if Cena was gonna lose in the same way he lost to Big Johnny. **1/4

Final Thoughts - Very strong show in my eyes last night. Ultimately, nothing really felt like filler as everything seemed to have a purpose. The opening segment was solid with Cena & Cole having a great dynamic together. The vids featuring Cena & Triple H were well done, as was Show's sit down MMA style interview. Wrestling action on the show was strong last night as well. Sheamus vs. Ziggler, while not as good as last Friday's match, was still very entertaining. The only real cases for filler, to me, could have been the Ryback squash & Sin Cara match. However, again, this was Ryback's first such match on Raw & he got a strong response and Sin Cara was reintroduced & looked sharper than we've seen in the past. The tag team match was pretty solid and was a way of getting the champs a boost after Big Show's assault last week. Punk vs. Kane was another great outing, better than the one this past Friday, and WWE has done a great job of making both Bryan & Kane look strong by giving them both good, solid wins over Punk in back to back weeks. AJ continues to be intriguing and the little tease with Kane last night adds another element of wonder to this as we're left to speculate where AJ's loyalties and affections lie. Cena vs. Tensai was pretty solid, not great, but the live crowd was feeling it. Cena's match with Cole was fun and would've been a waste of time without the well worked suspense of wondering if Cena was going to lose via interference to Cole as he did against JL at the last ppv. All in all, a very strong show in my eyes that seemed to fly by.

Grade: A-

 

[The Eighties]

I thought that Cole did really well with the opening promo segment, Cena threw in some goofy my little pony gag but Cole dismissed it as lame and kept pushing the agenda that Cena is selfish and Show has a point, I thought the fact he also brought up their friendship was good, especially the way Cena reacted to it. Shame this all led to Cena vs Cole.

Sheamus vs Dolph was another solid match between the 2 with Vickie on her full game in a PVC dress!. I thought having Dolph lose clean without Swagger's interference was pointless, he already lost to Sheamus last week, to rubber stamp an even cleaner win did nothing for Ziggler. Del Rio's post match attack on Sheamus got some solid heat and was well executed.

Sin Cara's short run out against Hunico had no botches so that's a plus. The mood lighting is irritating though and I still don't see anything all that exciting about him.

Ryback's squash match was as you'd expect but it was good to see him in front of a live crowd, plus I like that he varies his power offense.

Cm Punk vs Kane was up next and the highlight of Raw. They have had good matches together dating back to the WWECW days, but this was probably the best one to date, it reminded me a bit of the Bret/Diesel dynamic in 94/95. Bryan was out there and watched the match like he was Blofeld, AJ came down part of the way through and everyone ended up in everyone else's business. Did Punk dive onto Bryan to protect AJ or get the Yes! man? either way Kane capitalized beating a distracted Punk with a chokeslam.

Post match Kane booted Bryan in the face as he attempted a sneak attack and then turned his attention to AJ who was kneeling over Punk, at first she acted scared then started smiling at Kane who seemed confused, Bryan looked on with an equally puzzled look, Kane left and AJ went back to the fallen Punk. This was all great stuff, a multi-layered angle over the WWE title with 3 guys working well together and a crazy chick wild card.

AJ is then interviewed backstage by Josh Matthews and goes through three personality changes during the interview making Matthews nervous. She is really good at her role and it will be interesting to see if her insanity will continue or if she's going to go full heel and this is all part of a Bryan plan.

There were two Raw memories video packages aired during the show building towards the 1000th episode, one was Cena's top memory and the other was Triple H's. The Hunter one in particular is one of my favourite Raw moments ever.

The video package for The Big Show was in the same realistic mould as the Lesnar one, and while I still don't care about Cena vs Show and think it's too late in the day to reinvent Show, the video made a good fist of it.

Kofi and Truth coming out in bandages was a little silly looking but their match with Reks and Hawkins was solid. In truth they could have used the injuries to give the heels a win and add a bit more depth to the tag division, but they didn't.

The last 30 minutes just did nothing for me, Cena vs Tensai was ok and it's clear Tensai has been told to quicken up his offense, but it didn't really do anything to further an angle and the stuff with Cole was just pointless, I've never cared for the whole top babyface humiliating the weasel non wrestling heel, this really did nothing to further Show vs Cena and as the main event was a waste.

I found this a mixed Raw, some decent basic showcases of talent but frustrating stuff with Ziggler and a pointless main angle for the show. However if a Raw features two good matches and a great WWE title angle that furthers 4 characters these days, you gotta at least look at the glass as half full.

 

[suttree]

Wow, that hornswaggle - cole segment was all sorts of abomination. I think that the WWE are high on cesaro but are handicapped by their own stupidity. First of all, he only got about 2 moves done in that mini squash, both looked underwhelming to say the least(by claudio standards).

Now, obviously they want to get him over as a heel, and are milking the teddy long angle to get it done. I just dont see the point? Teddy long is and never was a wrestler, and he's old and boring. The crowd knows there wont be a decent payoff to this, so why give a non wrestler so much sympathy from the crowd, when just such angle could have been used to get an under/midcard talent over(im thinking zack ryder).

WWE's stupidity kills me sometimes.

 

[The Eighties]

I like that SD is showcasing new talent like Cesaro, Ryback and Sandow, and I hope Sandow's angle with Kidd goes somewhere and isn't just a quick job for Kidd on next weeks show.

Sin Cara's match with McIntyre was ugly and awkward, I really can't see the point in Sin Cara in the WWE unless Vince hires some guys that can work his style and build a cruiser division.

I mentioned Ryback above, the guy hits a monstrous powerbomb of Vader-like proportions and a devastating lariat, then uses a modified Samoan drop with silly looking marching as his finish.

The best part of the show was the Christian/Cody promo showdown that bled into the excellent Christian vs Dolph match with Cody doing a great job on commentary. It's good to see an IC title feud get some actual promo time. Not sure why Dolph was Vickieless and jobbing clean again but hopefully it's part of a bigger picture.

The show starting and finishing with the World title feud was good to see, I thought Del Rio was solid on the mic for the second week in a row, and Sheamus' match with Kane was a good main event, especially with a dollop of AJ!

 

[Teddy Irving]

At the end of this weeks raw the final segment involved promo work from John L., Vince McMahon, Big Show and John Cena. This segment was going well I thought up until Cena began his part in the promo. Now I'm not here trying to rag on Cena's promo abilities as the actually delivery was fine. My problem was with the content of the promo.

Listening to it I was just reminded so much of his promo with Punk after Punk made his return in the summer. He was talking about what would happen if Show failed to win this match, saying basically the same stuff he had said to Punk about how Punk had to win because he had built himself up so much and Big Show had now done the same.

Did anyone else notice this while watching raw?
Was there really no other place they could have gone with this without having to recycle promo's from less than a year ago?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Overall, I thought last night's Raw was a solid show. It did drag at times and that's a problem with these three hour shows, but there was some good wrestling and good final hype for some of the ppv matches.

Vince's segments all in all were pretty good. I could've done without him dancing or seen him with Hornswoggle mocking JIm Ross, but the rest were just fine. The opening with Big Johnny was solid and while Vince was in character, he wasn't anywhere near as over the top as he used to be.

Wrestling action on the show was also solid. I really enjoyed the Sheamus vs. Tensai & the four way #1 contender's match. Sheamus vs. Tensai was a hard hitting, physical match that the big men worked well. The four way match was great, best match of the night and the match really picked up after Khali was eliminated. Ziggler scoring a clean win to face Sheamus at the ppv, due to Del Rio being out with a concussion, was a great way to go with this. Vader showing up last night was a fun surprise and he looked pretty decent. He's nowhere near his prime, but he had a pretty decent 4 minute match with Heath Slater that the fans really popped for. More of the same from Ryback & Sin Cara. Show vs. Kofi was good in showing Show as a dominant force. There were a couple of nice teases, such as Kofi landing TIP on Show and almost escaping a few times. I'd love to see WWE get behind Kofi because, in my eyes, the potential is there. Punk & AJ vs. Bryan & Kane was ok, but the real story was the intraction between AJ & the three men involved. All of them did very well in their roles, especially Kane & AJ.

The closing segment of the show was nicely done in my eyes. It wasn't spectacular, but it was better than I was expecting to be perfectly honest. Show & Cena were solid on the mic, though I wish Cena had been in a more serious mind set, and the stipulation added to the match puts a nice little spin on things. If Show loses, then Big Johnny is fired. Since JL is no longer legitimately the Executive VP of Talent Relations, it makes you wonder if Show will lose or if he'll come out on top. Both Vince & Big Johnny will be at ringside, so some shenanigans from them can be interesting as long as they don't take away from the match. Show's accidental punch on Vince looked horrible from the initial angle. Looked like he missed him by a mile, but it worked on the side view shown during replay.

All in all, I give last night's show a B-, MAYBE a B.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The numbers for last night's Raw are in and it's looking as though the show's popped a rating.

The 1st hour drew 3,904,000 viewers. The 2nd hour increased by close to a million viewers with 4,882,000. The 3rd hour increased by another few hundred thousand to 5,080,000 viewers according to tvbythenumbers.com. Averaging all three hours together, last night's Raw drew 4,662,000 viewers. In it's traditional two hour timeslot, the show drew 4,981,000 viewers.

All in all, the best audience that Raw has drawn in a while. As usual, the first hour of Raw drew down the overall rating. That's a big problem WWE is facing once Raw goes to three hours permanently. Maybe viewing habits will change if given enough time, which is what I think Vince is counting on.

 

[BigThunder]

Good Smackdown, boring Show/Cena stuff aside.

I really liked the opening promo. AJ had the crowd eating out of her hand, and her interactions with Dolph and Vicki were gold.

Wish we'd had a longer Kidd-Sandow match. I like Sandow's schtick, but I'm not sure where he can go with it.

 

[Arashi]

I don't know, I kind of liked the whole Cena/Show stuff this week, and Cena and Big Johnny really do have some great chemistry imo. The last segment was amazing in my opinion even though we all know Cena will never get fired.

AJ is just amazing right now, she's actually adding a lot to WWE championship feud? When was the last time you could say that about a female character. AJ got a chance to take the ball and run, and she has and she's been brilliant.

 

[The Eighties]

Way too much Vince for my tastes but I thought they did a good job building the WWE title match and setting up the WHC match.

The in ring promo segment with Punk, Bryan, Kane and AJ was gold, everyone came off great and the guys don't seem to have an issue with letting AJ have the spotlight. The resulting mixed tag was just ok with a pretty quick win for Punk over Bryan with the Macho Man elbow drop, once AJ had gotten rid of Kane by actually making me want to be Kane for the first time ever.

The #1 contender fatal 4 way was a good match once Khali was gone, and the final stretch between Ziggler and Christian was the best wrestling on WWE TV this week. The way Dolph won and then had a sort of respect face to face with Sheamus at the top of the ramp I think is setting the stage for a face turn, the crowd were certainly behind him.

The Vader return was awesome, I marked, the greatest monster heel of all time and he still looked pretty good in the short match even if he is girthier. It was great to hear the response he got from the crowd, well deserved.

The final segment was ok, I thought Show's promo to Vince was really good, Cena's to show started out goofy and then he basically used the same "What if you lose?" promo he used on Punk prior to Summerslam. As hard as they are trying to reinvent Big Show it's impossible not to laugh at the notion that Cena isn't the odds on favourite to win every match.

Vince getting punched (although it was a Shane attacking Orton level whiffer) being such a big deal seemed stupid given all the things that wrestlers have done to Vince over the years, but credit to WWE's production crew, they were very quick to get the only angle to use for a replay that didn't expose the botch.

 

[The Eighties]

I quite like the simple Smackdown format, more match focused and that's fine with me, although this week the main event was a promo that felt like the same one we have seen several times lately.

The Ryback squash was fun as usual but I'm ready to see him at least move up to Heath Slater and Riley. It was disappointing that Sandow vs Kidd was also a squash, but then again I'm probably alone in wanting to see Tyson Kidd get a mid card push.

The opening segment and match served as a good build for both title matches at the PPV, on the mic I felt Ziggler got the most out of the brief line he got the chance to deliver but AJ came out of it all as the shining light again, from her crazy interactions with Vickie to the way she slumped down on the ramp like she'd just finished an orgasm after Kane chokeslammed Punk and Bryan, she is brilliant in her role.

While I personally don't think this rebooting of the Big Show is going to really get over long term, his promo on SD this week was maybe the best of his career.

 

[Arashi]

Vince wasn't too bad. Most of his segments are okay, and for all things considered he served his purpose.

It's nice to see that ziggler getting a big spot even though I have a feeling he's going to get a couple months run and squashed by Sheamus.

The build for the triple threat match at NWO is awesome. The segment was perfect as the in ring segment and even the tag match that I wasn't to excited for, turned out brilliantly.

If Punk/ Bryan/ Kane isn't the Main Event at no way out after all the stellar work these four have put forth, it's just total bullshit. They deserve that main event.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Last night's Raw was certainly a mixed bag in my eyes. It was a strange show, at least most of the second half was, and I've little doubt that the second hour will have a drop off in viewership when the ratings come out later today.

The first 70-80 minutes of the show was really good in my estimation. It was fun seeing Foley out there and he & Big Johnny gave me a couple of chuckles. The opening tag match between Punk & Sheamus vs. Bryan & Kane was an entertaining 3.25 star effort. The situation with AJ continues to intrigue me and I was a little surprised by how strong of a pop she got from the crowd. The Ziggler vs. Swagger match was really well done, better than I was expecting. They told a good story and I'm wondering if they're heading for a face turn with Ziggler. He's been getting a strong babyface response the past several weeks and he showed a lot of determination after being in the ankle lock for so long, which he did a helluva job selling. I thought they did a good job of building suspense as to whether Dolph would tap or not, I was waiting for it to happen and I'm so glad it didn't. I gave the match 2.5 stars. It was short, but it told a good story. I was hoping against hope that Ziggler would sorta just push Vickie away instead of kissing her but no such luck. But, maybe last night is the next step in Ziggler doing just that. The Triple H/Paul Heyman segment was a great verbal exchange and both of them landed some believable, not too insider insults at each other. While we know that Lesnar will ultimately say yes, this was a strong start to the build of that match with Triple H going into Cerebral Assassin mode by appealing to Lesnar's ego.

After that, the show went downhill. It was just so oddly booked as the second hour was so much weaker overall than the first one. The Del Rio vs. Santino match served no purpose whatsoever. We've seen him job to Del Rio so much that I can't see how anybody cared to see it again. I'm over Santino and I wish he'd disappear for a while. The Cyndi Lauper segment was horrendous and it had Vince's fingerprints all over it. What I mean by that is that it went much longer than it should have and the attempts at comedy were vomit inducing. While it was nice seeing Roddy Piper, it was just a lousy segment overall. One thing I am happy about is that they didn't bring Brodus Clay out to have Cyndi & Piper dance with him. I kept expecting that to happen, so at least they didn't go that route. The tag team match was ok while it lasted but the live crowd didn't give a shit and you could tell that. The main event was exactly what I figured, which was basically just Cena wrestling a little bit with Otunga before beating the snot out of Big Johnny. I'm sure a lot of people got a thrill out of it and that's all well and good. For me, however, it was just another waste of time. Big Show leaving Big Johnny high & dry was a nice touch and the crowd popped for when Otunga did it later on. I get the feeling that this match/segment was done to mostly just write Big Johnny off for a while. If he comes back next week, then it'll obliterate any point to this feud.

I'm hoping next week will be a fresh start to some things. Most of the second half of last night's show felt like filler, uninteresting & low quality filler at that. As I said earlier, the first 70-80 minutes of the show were pretty strong in my eyes, but the second hour just...well it just sucked quite frankly and it really drug down the entire show. I'd say that last night's Raw was about a C. It wasn't a horrible show overall, but most of the second half was about as weak as the first hour was strong.

EDIT - The numbers for last night's show are out and I have to say that I'm pretty surprised. Last night's Raw was the most watched in the past couple of months. Last night was coming off of a ppv but given the overall mediocrity of the second hour, I expected a big drop off in viewership as the show went along.

Hour 1 of Raw last night drew an average of 4,853,000 viewers according to tvbythenumbers.com. Hour 2 viewership, surprisingly, increased by more than 200,000 and drew an average of 5,072,0000 viewers. Overall, last night's show had a total average viewership of 4,962,500. I guess a lot of people were interested in seeing Big Johnny get beaten about some more.

I haven't read anything on the ratings yet, but I'd say that audience size is somewhere around a 3.4-3.5 rating. Here's hoping that Raw gets on track next week with Jericho's return, showing where the major players for the past month go next and get started on a good build to MITB.

 

[The Eighties]

Those second hour numbers are surprising given the nostalgia part was so long and was from the 80's, plus the Cena/Johnny main event repetition was a yawner.

I was hoping to see more of Foley but the opening segment with him and Big Johnny was fun, and the subsequent tag team match with loopy AJ skip-in was the highlight of the show.

Heyman's promo work was stellar as always.

I agree with Jackhammer's view on Ziggler vs Swagger and it was a different match to what I was expectiung, but I'm surprised their split didn't go to a PPV match, I wonder where this leaves Swagger.